An unofficial Croydon, Sutton and Surrey Green Party blog by Shasha Khan. Having lived in Croydon most of my life, I now live just outside the south west of the borough in Woodmansterne.

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Can we stop the incinerator

Can we......

We are led to understand that the Mayor of London's office will announce today its decision on whether to approve the Beddington incinerator. Technically Boris' office [quoting from an email received from the case officer - Samantha Wells] must make the decision on whether Sutton Council's recommendation will
stand, or that he (the Mayor) shall act as the local planning authority for the
purposes of determining the application (known as Stage 2). The Mayor's determination must be based on issues of strategic
importance to London, and he has the power to either direct a Council to
refuse planning permission or become the local planning authority for
the purposes of determining the application.

The Mayor's duties when considering the application at Stage 2 is to
consider the scale of local opposition, and when the time comes to
reporting the case to the Mayor, officers will explain in further detail
the scale of the local opposition to the proposed development.

To this end we the Stop The Incinerator group collected many signatures and have sent thousands of letters to the Mayor. Our London assembly members have also been doing the best to support the campaign (see press release below).

If the Mayor's office approves, and we understand whilst Boris is holidaying in Australia it his deputy Edward Lister who will make the decision, it is from today that the application to build a giant incinerator in Beddington is finally approved, hence, all the campaign groups that are part of the Stop The Incinerator network have 3 months (from today) to go down the judicial review route.

The Mayor’s office
(1) is due to make a final decision on the Viridor Energy Recovery
Facility (ERF) incinerator in Sutton tomorrow afternoon, Wednesday 21st
August. The proposed incinerator if given
the go ahead will burn waste from four London boroughs (Croydon,
Kingston upon Thames, Merton and Sutton). London Assembly Member Jenny
Jones has strongly urged the Mayor to reject this application in her
letter (2) and then followed up with a Mayor’s question
(3)

Jenny Jones said:

“Building a giant
incinerator on metropolitan open land is not only contrary to the
Mayor’s own planning policies and his waste hierachy, but it’s a recipe
for a disaster for wildlife and local residents who will
be exposed to unacceptable levels of air pollution coming from the
chimney stacks”

“The Mayor has an
opportunity to reject this proposal tomorrow. A rejection will send a
clear signal to the waste industry and councils that signing new
contracts that will see hundreds of thousands of tonnes of
perfectly recyclable waste burned is completely unacceptable”

1) In Boris Johnson’s
absence, Edward Lister the Mayor of London’s Deputy Mayor for Planning
will make the decision on behalf of the Mayor of London.

2) Jenny Jones’s letter of objection to Boris Johnson

Boris Johnson

Mayor of London

City Hall

The Queen’s Walk

London SE1 2AA

29th May 2013

Beddington Farmlands Waste Management Facility

Planning application No: D2012/66220

I am very concerned
at the type of waste facility proposed at the existing landfill and
recycling site in Beddington. Specifically, its detrimental impact on
the natural environment, on local air quality, and on
undermining the waste hierarchy.

Metropolitan Open Land:
this is an inappropriate
development on Metropolitan Open Land and contrary to London Plan policy
7.7 which gives MOL the strongest protection.

Air Quality: Contrary
to London Plan policy 7.14, the development proposal will lead to
further deterioration of local air quality from both vehicle movements
associated
with the delivery of waste and removal of ash, and from the flue gases
emitted through the chimney stacks, particularly as this is already an
Air Quality Management Area.

Biodiversity and conservation: The site is
of exceptional importance for birds in London, with nationally important
populations of several species and one of the longest species lists in
London (82 bird species were recorded at the
Beddington SMI during the 2011 breeding season). As a Metropolitan
wildlife site, it is part of the key strategic framework for
biodiversity described in policy 7.19 and is in the Mayor’s Biodiversity
Strategy. The scheme will result in the permanent loss
of wildlife habitat and a change in absolute character of the
Beddington Farmland. It also does not address the issues of the failed
Conservation Management Plan and current decline in the conservation
target species. It is therefore contrary to London Plan
policy 2.18 and 7.19.

Waste issues:

The Energy Recovery
Facility (ERF) is a combined heat and power incinerator proposed by
Viridor, the South London Waste Partnership’s preferred bidder for the
treatment of four London council’s (Croydon, Kingston
upon Thames, Merton and Sutton) with a maximum waste capacity of
302,000 tonnes per annum (tpa). According to Viridor they expect to
incinerate 200,000 tpa of residual municipal waste collected from
households from the partnership area.

Type of waste facility:
The Mayor’s London Plan (para 5.86) policy on energy recovery from
waste states that ‘energy recovery should be carried out through
advanced conversion
techniques, ie gasification, pyrolysis or anaerobic digestion’. The ERF
is therefore contrary to this policy.

Residual waste:
Only genuine ‘residual waste’, the element that cannot be recycled or
composted, should be considered for energy generation. However, as the
South London
Waste Plan has not set out plans to maximise recycling/composting
targets, which according to the Scottish Government and Welsh Assembly
are in the region of 70 per cent, or even 80 per cent according to the
Friends of the Earth, hundreds of thousands of tonnes
of recyclable and compostable material will be incinerated over the
period of the contract.

The resolution passed
in May 2012 by the European Parliament calling for a limit on
incineration with energy recovery to ‘non-recyclable materials only’ by
2020 needs to be taken into consideration. Particularly
as it is likely to pave the way for far more ambitious and stringent
incineration polices in the forthcoming review of the EU Waste Framework
Directive, and within the lifetime envisaged in this application.

Waste capacity and 30 year contract:
Whilst incineration may offer the
easiest alternative to landfill and avoiding escalating landfill
charges, this short term solution, will have long term detrimental
consequences. It won’t provide incentives to maximise
recycling/composting rates, nor will it discourage unsorted residual
household black bag waste. Instead, vast amounts of climate changing
carbon dioxide and pollution will be produced and valuable natural
resources that could be recycled will be incinerated.

Greenhouse gas emissions and carbon intensity floor assessments (CIF):
Viridor’s ERF plan does not offer
significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. Their ‘Needs
Assessment and Carbon Balance’ document only compares the ERF to the
landfill site, not other available waste treatment options
such as recycling, reuse or other renewable energy sources. The Working
out of CIF is based on the displacement of gas, however, well within
the lifetime of the plant renewable energy is very likely to outstrip
gas as the major supplier. There is a good chance
the ERF could be displacing and preventing energy that could come from
more environmentally friendly options.

For the reasons set out above, I strongly urge you to direct refusal.

Jenny Jones

Green Party Member of the London Assembly

3) Mayor’s Question submitted for 19th June Mayor’s Question Time

Sutton incinerator

Question by Jenny Jones AM:

The
proposed Energy Recovery Facility in Beddington, Sutton, will
incinerate hundreds of thousands of tonnes of recyclable waste over the
period of the contract. A resolution
passed in May 2012 by the European Parliament called for incineration
with energy recovery to be limited to ‘non-recyclable materials only’ by
2020. As this is may pave the way for far more stringent incineration
polices within the lifetime of the proposed
facility, following the forthcoming review of the EU Waste Framework
Directive, will you consider this as a material consideration in your
forthcoming Stage II decision?

Answer from Boris Johnson:

I was consulted on the planning application
for the energy from waste facility at Beddington Lane and provided my
initial comments on 20 September 2012. I raised a number of issues
relating to waste planning, Metropolitan Open Lane,
biodiversity, sustainable development, design, air quality and
transport. I am aware that the Council has resolved to grant consent and
that the application is due to be referred back to me once the section
106 is drafted, therefore I cannot comment specifically
about the merits of this proposal.